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Negotiations stalled on House-Senate package that would avert Medicare pay cuts for doctors

The Republican plan to pay for the package, which includes extending a payroll tax cut, calls for a premium increase for upper-income Medicare patients that has been rejected by Democrats. Democrats have offered to trim unemployment benefits by six weeks.

13 Feb 2012

Watson seeks FDA approval to market generic Beyaz

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today confirmed that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to market Drospirenone and Ethinyl Estradiol and Levomefolate Calcium Tablets, 3.0 mg/0.02 mg/0.451 mg and Levomefolate Calcium Tablets, 0.451 mg.

13 Feb 2012

Study reveals racial disparities in renal transplant access

A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that racial disparities exist in both the early and late steps in access to kidney transplantation. This study is part of the February special themed issue of the journal on racial disparity.

10 Feb 2012

Medicaid changes eyed in Georgia, California and Connecticut

State officials are creating two task forces to gather input on a consulting firm's report on the future of Georgia's Medicaid and PeachCare programs. One task force will involve medical provider groups, including representatives of hospital and physician organizations. The second grouping will review the Navigant report's recommendation to revamp services for the "aged, blind and disabled" populations.

10 Feb 2012

Shorter stay protocols for TKR patients may increase risk of mortality, readmission

No previous research has quantified and compared the costs and outcomes between total knee replacement (TKR) patients who have differing lengths of hospital stay following surgery.

10 Feb 2012

Democrats to unveil options to pay for 'doc fix,' other measures

Republicans expect to receive on Thursday a list of Democratic options to pay for a large tax-cut extension measure that includes a freeze in scheduled cuts to Medicare physician pay rates. However, at least one Republican expects negotiations on the legislation to make little progress before a law freezing current policy in place expires at the end of the month.

10 Feb 2012

New program aims to reduce early elective deliveries

The Obama administration launched a $40 million effort Wednesday to reduce premature births, especially early elective deliveries, but it has no plans to stop Medicaid from paying for those deliveries.

10 Feb 2012

Hospitals seek to consolidate in Ga., Wis. and N.Y.; Other state hospital news

Hospitals in Atlanta, Wisconsin and New York are consolidating or partnering more closely with others in a bid to reduce costs and save themselves. In other hospital news, small California hospitals market back surgery to patients and a Minnesota hospital faces a "patient abuse" crisis.

10 Feb 2012

Romney remains target over health care credentials

Mitt Romney remains directly in the crosshairs of his GOP presidential rivals as Rick Santorum hits Romney on his health care credentials on the campaign trail. But, Santorum's presidential bid is itself finding some controversy for the candidates ties to hospital chain Universal Health Services, where he was once director.

10 Feb 2012

Study shows high cost of defensive orthopaedic care

In a first-ever national survey of orthopaedic surgeons, 96 percent said they have practiced defensive medicine - the ordering of tests, referrals to specialists and hospital admissions primarily to avoid liability and without significant benefit to patients - according to a new study presented today at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

10 Feb 2012

Congress struggles to tackle doc fix, payroll tax cut extension

It's Groundhog Day in Congress, where lawmakers appear to have glimpsed their shadows and are entering a newly intense period of negotiations over whether to extend the payroll tax cut that is shaping up to be remarkably similar to a bruising December fight over the same issue.

9 Feb 2012

Roundup: State legislatures consider nursing home, insurance exchange bills

Even as Massachusetts business and government leaders celebrate the most modest premium rate hikes in years for small employers and individuals, speakers at a health insurance seminar here yesterday warned that the main trend restraining bigger increases - fewer people seeking health care in the past year - already may be changing.

9 Feb 2012

Discussion of SGR fix heats up

Conferees negotiating the legislative package to extend the payroll tax break and to prevent a scheduled Medicare physician pay cut increased their focus on the physician payment piece of the puzzle. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing exploring private sector ideas for creating a new physician payment system.

9 Feb 2012

Court says Medicare beneficiaries can't opt out if they receive Social Security

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that seniors who receive Social Security cannot reject their legal right to Medicare benefits, in a rare case of Americans suing to get out of a government entitlement. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey is among the five senior citizens who sued to stop their automatic eligibility for Medicare.

9 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Political furor on contraceptive policy; Confusing estimates of Medicare's costs

The political furor over President Obama's birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn't be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.

9 Feb 2012

Watson settles ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN LO patent litigation with Janssen

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., has reached a settlement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on outstanding patent litigation related to Watson's generic version of Janssen's ORTHO TRI-CYCLEN LO (norgestimate/ethinyl estradiol) tablets.

8 Feb 2012

White House budget trims Medicare with cuts focused on insurance company payments, hospitals

President Barack Obama's budget proposal on February 13 will make an election-year call for economic fairness with higher taxes on wealthy Americans as part of a $3 trillion-plus deficit reduction plan that he first unveiled last September... Expect domestic spending cuts of around $580 billion over 10 years, going by Obama's September deficit plan.

8 Feb 2012